Let the Storm Break (Sky Fall #2)(72)

I don’t blame him for not believing me. But he has to get out of town. “Look, all I can say is that crap is going to hit the fan, like, soon—and I don’t want you to get caught in the middle of it—” “What kind of crap?”

“It’s . . . hard to explain.” He’ll never believe me if I tell him the truth. I certainly wouldn’t. “But it’s big, crazy, you-cannot-wrapyour-head-around-it kind of crap. So please, just get your family and Shelby out of here—don’t you have relatives you could stay with in Ensenada?”

“Dude, quit tripping and go back to sleep.”

“I’m not tripping, I—”

He hangs up on me.

I call back and it goes straight to voicemail. Same with the next time. And the time after that.

I’m tempted to call his house, but if I can’t convince my best friend that I’m not drugged out of my mind, I doubt I can convince his paranoid mother. And his girlfriend Shelby hasn’t spoken to me since the Hannah-from-Canada debacle a few weeks ago.

Which leaves me with only one option.

“You’re going to get him?” Audra asks, proving how well she knows me as I grab the nearest shirt and throw it over my head.

“I have to try to get him out of here. If something happens to him, I won’t be able to live with myself.”

“You will do nothing of the sort,” Os says from the doorway. “We have precious little time for you to teach us what we need—and that is the best way to protect everyone.”

I glance at Audra and she nods. “Listen, Os, about that—”

“Don’t you dare—you already agreed.”

“I know. But I can’t. You saw how sick I got.”

“Then don’t get sick.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Not when I don’t trust you!”

I can see Gus and Solana standing behind Os, looking pretty dang shocked that I would admit that. But it’s the truth. Might as well lay it all out there at this point.

“You don’t trust me?” Os growls. “I am your captain!”

“Yeah, and less than an hour ago you threatened to torture me and break my bond. I’m sure you can see why that might make you seem a little shady.”

“Is that what this is about? Some sort of blackmail to force me into accepting your relationship?”

“Of course not—we don’t need your approval. You don’t get to—”

I stop myself and take a deep breath, focusing on the Westerly still floating around my room. It’s singing that line again about not fleeing from the path, and I think I finally know what it means.

“Look,” I say, trying to make sense of the chaotic thoughts in my head. “Everyone’s always talking about how I’m the one with the power to fix everything. But I’m not. The Westerlies have the power. Every single time they’ve managed to save me it’s because I stepped back and listened to what my instincts were telling me to do. And my instincts are telling me not to teach anyone else my language, so I have to trust them. I know it’s scary—but it was pretty freaking scary when Audra was trapped in a drainer and my instincts told me to make an ultra strong wind spike and launch it at her, and it was even scarier when we were cornered by Raiden in Death Valley and we had to drop our only shield and unravel our only weapons and hope that the few tired drafts we had would come through for us. But they did. So fine, maybe you don’t trust me and I don’t trust you, but can we both agree to trust the wind?”

Os’s mouth forms one word. Then another.

When he changes his mind again, I say, “You know you agree with me. You just don’t want to.”

He reaches up and smoothes the hair around his braid. “I do agree that your instincts are important, Vane. But that doesn’t mean they’re always perfect, either—or that you’re properly understanding them. Yes, you felt ill thinking about teaching us, but how do you know that’s not just nerves resulting from a life-changing decision?”

“Because it wasn’t.”

“But how do you know—and don’t give me some pointless answer like ‘I just do.’ You’ve never given teaching us a chance. How do you know it won’t feel differently if you try?”

“Because I didn’t feel like that with Audra!”

Gus cringes, and I realize he never told Os that important detail—which was probably the right call.

“What does he mean?” Os asks, reeling on Audra. “Did he teach you Westerly?”

Say no! I want to beg her. Lie to cover my mistake.

But Audra squares her shoulders, glancing quickly at me before she turns to face Os and says, “Yes.”





CHAPTER 34


AUDRA





I

could’ve lied.

I almost did.

But in the split second that I had to think, I realized there’s a bigger secret that I need to keep. And this is the best way to hide it. “Yes, he taught me,” I tell Os, silently begging Vane and Gus to

go along with this. “After we bonded. He wanted to make sure I had

extra protection, but I was only able to learn a couple of commands.” “That didn’t trigger a breakthrough?” Os asks.